Warm Audio WA273 Dual-Channel British Mic Pre

The WA273 from Warm Audio is a top quality mic preamp that's part of their WA73 lineup, with a design based upon the legendary 1073.

The Venerable 1073 and Warm Audio's WA73 Family

If there's a prominent preamp that professional engineers can unanimously agree on that has defined the sound of pop/rock records over the previous 50+ years, most definitely it would be the venerable 1073. It's been used on a massive scale in recording and live sound applications for decades and is still considered to be the best of the best of preamps even today. The “WA73 Family” from Warm Audio offers single- and dual-channel re-creations of this classic British preamp (both with & without EQ), that each pay careful and humble homage to the original circuit.

When the decision was made to release the WA273 it was imperative to Warm Audio that the unit pay respectful homage to the legendary British console history both in design as well as performance. The tone and sweet sound characteristics of the vintage units are so unique and familiar that Warm's desire was to release purely and truly sonically-accurate replicas. The years of R&D, careful reverse-engineering, and countless hours of auditioning, have all resulted in the WA273.

A 2-channel "boutique", "Desert Island" preamp, the WA273 can also be classified as a studio and live work-horse. And just as the classic 1073 was known for being a versatile tool capable of working with all kinds of microphones, from Condenser, to Dynamic, to Ribbon, the WA273 equally shines on all types of microphones and sources as well, including; vocals, acoustic/electric guitars, bass, drums, percussion, orchestras, keyboards, and even as a tone shaping tool to run partial or complete mixes through. Plus, with the WA273's 80dB of gain, along with fully discrete Carnhill Transformer-balanced signal path, there's no recording, mixing, or engineering task that it can't handle.

Hand-Wired & Hand-Assembled

The the WA273 is hand-wired, just like the classic 1073. Knowledgeable pros claim that part of the 1073's classic tone can be attributed to its hand-wired assembly. To that end, the WA273 is hand-wired and hand-assembled – even the pcb components are all populated by hand.

Warm Audio WA273 Features:

• 2-Channel, Class A, 1073-Style British Microphone Preamp
• UK-made Carnhill Transformers
• 4-position inductor-based hipass filter
• Hand-Wired, hand-assembled
• Available phantom power
• 19" rack-mountable
• Fully discrete

Warm Audio WA273 Specifications:

• 80dB of gain – resistor-stepped gain switch
• TONE button – Changes input transformer impedance for varying tone
• Polarity switch
• 48v phantom power
• 4-position inductor-based hipass filter: 50/80/160/300 Hz
• XLR mic inputs (front & back)
• Line-level TRS input
• TS Send/Receive insert jacks
• XLR & TRS line-level outputs
• Direct In, instrument input
• Output level control
• LED level indication
• 1RU 19" rack-mountable
• Freq response: 20Hz - 20kHz +/-.5 dB
• Internal IEC 115v/230v power inlet